Ex-councillor admits to child sex

A FORMER Sydney suburban councillor and staffer to ex-federal Liberal MP Peter King has pleaded guilty to having sex with a schoolgirl he met on the internet.

John Nils Alexander Kenny, 38, was working for Mr King in the blue-ribbon eastern Sydney seat of Wentworth when he met the 15-year-old on a Yahoo! chat site in October 2003.

The girl falsely claimed to be 16 or 17 in her various profiles on the site, which was advertised for those aged between 15 and 18.

However, when Kenny asked her how old she was, the girl told him she was only 15.

Kenny today pleaded guilty in the NSW District Court to two counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged between 14 and 16.

Contact between Kenny and the teenagers increased in the early part of December 2003, progressing from internet chat to email and then to telephone conversations, according to agreed facts presented today in court.

They spoke about their days at school and work, respectively, and their conversations became increasingly sexual.

“The accused asked the complainant for photographs of herself, which she sent,” the facts state.

“He also sent sexually explicit photographs of himself to her.”

The pair agreed to meet at Urunga, halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, and Kenny booked them into a highway motel.

During the afternoon and evening of December 13, Kenny and the girl had consensual sex numerous times, and she took sexually explicit photos of him.

The pictures were discovered by police who arrested Kenny at Brisbane airport in June 2004, just one month after he was elected to serve on Randwick City Council.

A four-month covert police operation was launched after the girl’s mother discovered the nature of her daughter’s relationship with Kenny.

Discs containing the explicit images were seized at the airport, as well as a camera, palm pilot and numerous mobile phones.

Kenny, who is no longer a councillor, told police he believed the girl was 16, but today conceded that “in the circumstances this belief was not reasonable”.

Judge Anthony Blackmore continued Kenny’s bail ahead of a sentencing hearing on December 5.